Various types of surgical drapes have been used to keep a surgical site on a patient sterile during a surgical procedure. Traditionally, surgical drapes were linen or woven cloth, and were sterilized after each use for reuse. More recently, fabric forms a substantial part of the drape. A reinforcement area is often placed around a fenestration or an edge of such disposable surgical drapes to provide structural strength and to absorb bodily fluids from the surgical site. Many disposable drapes also include a number of layers of different materials for the drape area and reinforcement area, with each layer providing a different property to the drape. For example, spunbond fabrics, meltblown fabrics, and polymer films have been used as layers in disposable drapes.
Many different shapes of surgical drapes have been proposed, often depending upon the specific surgical procedure to be performed. For example, the shape of the drape is often particularly designed to fit around a specific surgical site on the body. In some cases, a fenestration, as mentioned above, is provided through a drape to allow medical personnel access to the surgical site, whereas the remaining sheet portion of the drape covers the rest of the body and table. Moreover, several drapes are often used in combination as a draping system or kit to cover a patient. In some cases, several rectangular drapes, often called universal drapes, are laid over the patient in a pattern providing an opening through which the medical personnel can access the surgical site while also covering the remainder of the patient's body and the table.
Nevertheless, one drawback with many conventional drapes is that various objects and tools cannot be easily positioned on top of the drapes without falling off or without becoming contaminated. In response, some drapes have been developed to maintain medical devices during a surgical procedure. For instance, a prior surgical drape that has been developed for such a purpose includes a plurality of binding strips of material attached to the upper surface of the drape for the purpose of maintaining medical devices thereon during a surgical procedure. The strips may include a fastening system that employs hook and loop type fasteners in order to engage the medical device and retain it thereon. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,899 that describes a surgical drape having a plurality of binding strips of material attached to the upper surface of the drape for retaining medical devices during a surgical procedure. The strips may include a fastening system that uses Velcro® hook fasteners and an engageable loop material, or an adhesive strip for sealing the strip over onto itself. The strips are limited to a single placement on the drape and thus do not provide flexibility or adjustability.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,474 discloses a surgical drape that employs tabs to fasten surgical tools in place during a surgical procedure. The tabs are attached to the drape adjacent a reinforcement area around a fenestration in the drape. The tabs are attached at specific places and are not removable or adjustable, and include holes through which surgical tools or a securing cord may be passed.
Because the instrument retaining tabs and strips of prior art drapes are limited to a given set position on their respective drapes, the surgical procedures that are performed with a particular drape may be limited. Thus, different drapes are necessary for different surgical procedures on different parts of the body. This requires the hospital or healthcare facility to stock various types of drapes, which can be expensive and generates inventory issues. Furthermore, since drape design typically follows advances in new surgical procedures, specifically designed drapes may not be immediately available for new procedures.
A need thus exists in the art for surgical drapes utilizing versatile and efficient instrument holding devices that allow the drape to be used for various surgical procedures without inhibiting the surgeon's ability to perform various procedures.